Beta 2 Style Properties Feedback
- Thread starter XenForo
- Start date
khurt
Member
So far, I'm good with how this is done. I think it makes it easier for a person to find things - good job on that. However, it would be interesting to experiment with taking this out of the admin area and building it into the actual forum.
Crazy idea incoming:
Instead of asking the admin to go to the administrative area of the site and delve through potentially complicated style property menus, why not create a way for the admin to set their forum to "style edit mode". While in this mode, the admin can view their actual forum and click on various elements on the page to trigger a style properties windows that edits those properties on the spot. I believe that the #1 barrier most admins have in changing their style is simply locating what variables need to change to get the result they want. By presenting style property options on-demand, inline with a forum page, it could make it easier for a novice admin to make these sort of changes and it would eliminate a part of the admin area that could be overwhelming for some people. This allows the style properties section of the admin area to be dedicated to big picture adjustments like defining color palette while the "style edit mode" handles details.
...just an idea to think about. The current implementation gets the job done.
Crazy idea incoming:
Instead of asking the admin to go to the administrative area of the site and delve through potentially complicated style property menus, why not create a way for the admin to set their forum to "style edit mode". While in this mode, the admin can view their actual forum and click on various elements on the page to trigger a style properties windows that edits those properties on the spot. I believe that the #1 barrier most admins have in changing their style is simply locating what variables need to change to get the result they want. By presenting style property options on-demand, inline with a forum page, it could make it easier for a novice admin to make these sort of changes and it would eliminate a part of the admin area that could be overwhelming for some people. This allows the style properties section of the admin area to be dedicated to big picture adjustments like defining color palette while the "style edit mode" handles details.
...just an idea to think about. The current implementation gets the job done.
khurt
Member
I agree, such an idea would definitely need more thought and consideration before it could be implemented. I can already imagine several issues that would need to be overcome.
Previous forum solutions such as vBulletin seem to segregate forum design/style from the actual forum and place it in an "admin area". My suggestion is really just to bring some of these options closer to what we're actually working on. In theory, this should make it easier for people to manipulate these things.
It could be interesting to have something like firebug where you can try out style changes on an page element, see those changes displayed on the forum page and then commit those choices into the actual forum.
Something like that would more than likely take longer to code than the actual forum software itself.
Personally I think the current system is great.
It has the ACP options for those who want the ease and yet it's still possible to edit the templates directly if people also want to do that.
Personally I think the current system is great.
It has the ACP options for those who want the ease and yet it's still possible to edit the templates directly if people also want to do that.
bambua
Well-known member
I completely agree, I love the property system and love the fact that I can edit the templates and css directly if I want to. I just wish it was a bit easier to find what bits go with what sometimes.
JVCode
Well-known member
I like how the style properties are done, and would hate for it to become more css based, especially for those of us (me)who aren't intelligent enough to understand how it works.
Though, I do think it could do with popups over each style element with an image stating which area of the forum would be changed by editing this property, I know it probably wouldn't be feasible to do, but it would make life easier.
Though, I do think it could do with popups over each style element with an image stating which area of the forum would be changed by editing this property, I know it probably wouldn't be feasible to do, but it would make life easier.
I need to do a HYS video that explains the system fully. I think you are going to be very pleasantly surprised.When I look at this image:
I have to admit my first reaction was negative. I just don't want to see us go down the same road that vB did with hundreds of StyleVars. CSS is pretty straightforward, and I like to see pure CSS whenever possible.
Is there a large percentage of Forum Administrators who feel uncomfortable working with the following code?
Code:/* Mini-Me is the small avatar of the current visitor which shows up on discussions in which the visitor has posted. */ width: 20px; height: 20px; margin-left: 20px; padding: 1px; border: 1px solid black;
Border Radius
I can understand border radius being something that could be a nice Style Property, because it uses border-radius, -webkit-radius, and -moz-border-radius to cover IE9, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome. I would support all the border radiuses in XenForo being stored in a handful of Style Properties. But each DIV or SPAN having its own section? I'm not so sure...
Color Scheme
I also like how XenForo abstracts the major colors used throughout the forum and puts them in a nice control panel. I think color schemes should absolutely be abstracted in this manner.
But when I see borders, margins, padding, and background images for a single DIV, which are all extremely straightforward CSS concepts being split out into 37 style properties, I don't know.
What if I want to use CSS differently than XenForo does? What if I want to define new classes, retire old classes, and really play around with the structure and layout of the site?
I really hope I am totally misinterpreting what Kier and Mike are driving at here, but I originally thought that Style Properties were to easily configure and toggle functionality on a style-by-style basis, as well as quickly change the color schemes of the forum. I didn't think it was to be fill-in forms to customize at the DIV and SPAN level.
I'm looking forward to the spirited and useful discussions in this thread.
John
Well-known member
There is a tool for this already. It's called Firebug for Firefox
JVCode
Well-known member
That would be a god send.
silendreamer
Active member
sounds great to me
+1 you should post this in the suggestions forums however I am not sure how difficult it might be to implement
silendreamer
Active member
of course firebug, but that's only to test how it might look. How about implementing it like how khurt was saying. so the changes done could be made permanent without having to search through the various stylevars in the admin panelThere is a tool for this already. It's called Firebug for Firefox
I'm not sure even you know about the feature I'm talking about this time, MikoI'm a big fan of the style properties done right.
I'm glad to have this kind of control without having to touch a template.
This plus "the not yet promoted feature....
Miko
Well-known member
I'm not sure even you know about the feature I'm talking about this time, Miko
I was referring to the one that made my life 10x time easier
. But looking forward other one too!
JVCode
Well-known member
So, are you going to keep us guessing, or are you going to spill the beans!I'm not sure even you know about the feature I'm talking about this time, Miko
We have a rather large and obnoxious document to prepare at present for reasons you can probably imagine, but once that is out of the way I will be getting right on with some much-needed video production
Similar threads
